Through the Eyes of a Raptor
by ASIG
Summary: Roxton gets a to see things from a different perspective... Now complete!
1. Switch-a-roo

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've kept the first chapter of this story brief on purpose

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've kept the first chapter of this story brief on purpose. I've got a general idea brewing, but I'm hoping to get lots of feedback to conform my story to what your readers tell me you want to see more of. Hard to do if I don't get too much, so if you're reading this, please write up a review – even if you don't like my idea.

I was walking through the jungle with Malone and Marguerite. We had been gathering some fungi samples for Challenger who was hoping to discover some marvel in modern medicine. He had blabbered on about what it was he was hoping to find, but I really can't understand the old boy sometimes.

"Roxton," Marguerite said complaining as usual, "I don't really see why I have to be the one to carry this particular plant? It's so slimy and gritty."

"Well," I told her, carrying a far heavier load than she was, Malone was too, "that's just the luck of the draw."

"I swear Lord Roxton," she said in a fury, "if any of this slimy, grimy, goop gets in my hair…" I just smiled at her, "what is so funny?"

I didn't like her tone; I wasn't actually laughing, just grinning. Besides that, she was snapping at me, so I snapped back at her, "I'm laughing at you," I said, "because no matter what we're doing you always find some bloody inconvenience to complain about!"

"You could try being a little more tolerant," Malone told her, "after all, you don't exactly take on the bulk of the work load around here."

"What are you saying?" Marguerite asked, not happy about Malone's comment.

"He's saying," I began to explain, but then stopped. I could hear something moving in the trees. A faint sound, kind of like a growl. I listened harder and noticed that it had gotten very quiet in the jungle all of the sudden. No birds chirping, few insects buzzing, and other random noise that you can usually hear were all absent.

"He's saying what?" Marguerite demanded after I had remained silent for a few moments.

I shushed her, and gave a good hard look around the jungle, trying to find a target or something to explain the sudden stillness of the trees, the silence of the whole place.

"What is it?" Malone whispered. I suspected that he was beginning to sense that something was out of the ordinary as well.

I looked at everything twice, listened for the slightest noise, but I had nothing. I was about to say I didn't know, and get us moving again. Then I heard a twig snap. I turned my head quickly, with that hunter like reflex I'm so proud of, to see the tail of a dinosaur. I barely caught it at all, and some people may not have trusted this half a second glimpse. Not only did I trust the accuracy of my vision, but the detail; I was able to identify this dinosaur.

"Raptors!" I said, throwing down Challenger's sac of fungi and pulling out my rifle. I waited for one of them to show themselves so that I could attack.

Malone did the same, and asked me, "How many are there?"

"I can't tell," I admitted. I was wondering if Malone had gone mad for thinking I could know this, or if I should be honored that he was thinking that my senses were that sharp.

The first Raptor attacked, it was about 45° to my left, but I was able to spin around and shoot it. Then, a split second later, another one jumped out of the jungle and onto the path. Malone shot this one. Soon after more came, Malone and I did the best we could to fend off the attack. Marguerite of course, did nothing. She just stood back and let us do all the shooting. 

At one point, when Malone was reloading his rifle, a Raptor veered its ugly head and I shot him, but then realized that I needed to load more bullets as well. I tried to do this quickly, but as I feared the attack did not hold up. A Raptor jumped onto the path and was heading for Marguerite. She dropped her fungus as well, and quickly tried to pull out her gun, she was in a panic and dropped it. _Clumsy Marguerite, why now?_ I thought. Abandoning my bullets, I ran up to the Raptor and smacked it with the butt of my rifle, trying to knock it unconscious. That didn't work. 

I glanced back to see that Malone too had given up on his rifle, he was picking off Raptors with his pistol, and I was in a tough spot. I had to use my rifle as a brace in between its jaws to keep the Raptor from chomping my head off. Meanwhile, Marguerite was bending down to pick up her gun. I wasn't going to be able to hold this Raptor at bay much longer. In the corner of my eye, I saw the head of another Raptor peek its head from one of the bushes.

Just then, a surge of thunder, followed by a blinding flash of light! At first, I thought it was lightning.

"The Raptors!" I heard Malone say, sounding distant, "I don't believe it, they're all gone!"

"Roxton!" Marguerite said, also sounding farther away than before, "where's Roxton?" 

I could hear the panic in her voice. I was okay, and I was pleased to hear her express so much care for me. I looked at my surroundings; I was lying in between a bush and a tree that were just off the path. I tried to yell to my friends, guide them in my direction, but I was surprised to hear that only an animalistic growl came from my vocal cords. I could not speak. It is after this that I noticed my vision was odd too, almost distorted. I leaped to my feet, surprised by my leg strength. I felt different somehow. I saw Malone and Marguerite on the path. I ran over to them.

Malone looked right at me and said to Marguerite, "its another Raptor," as he reached for his rifle.

I just stood there, "It's not attacking," Marguerite observed.

I looked down and finally figured out what had happened. Somehow, that blinding flash of light, whatever it was, had put my mind into the body of a Raptor. I moaned softly, the sound still sounding rather ferocious. I wanted to go to Marguerite. For reasons unknown to me, that was the time when I wanted to run up to her and confess my love for her, then sweep her off her feet into my arms, and take to her to a world full of love and romance. I looked deep into Marguerite's eyes; I let out another soft growl, and cocked my head. She kept eye contact with me the whole time, a look of fascination on her face.

To Malone, she said, "It looks almost civil in some way. Not a wild vicious beast like the others."

I hadn't been paying attention to Malone, and I now know that I should have. Marguerite hadn't been either, and the young man had become so focused, he didn't hear her last comment. When Marguerite did get my attention over to Malone, I was stunned. He was kneeling down with his rifle aimed and about to fire. The rifle, I soon realized, was aimed at my head!


	2. A Quest for Understanding

DEDICATION: I must apologize that I didn't get this included in the first chapter

DEDICATION: I must apologize that I didn't get this included in the first chapter. But, before I continue my story, I would like to say that it is dedicated to the members of the official Lost World message board. Back when I first joined, you guys let me in when everybody else pushed me away. You're the best!

"Malone!" Marguerite shouted, "don't shoot it!" She ran over to him and knocked his gun to the side, he had been ready to take a shot me. The gun discharged, but, thanks to Marguerite, the bullet wasn't anywhere close to hitting me. To think, Marguerite saving me, normally that was the other way around.

After the bullet missed, and Marguerite got Malone to put his rifle down, I let out a sigh of relief. Of course, in the body of the Raptor that's not what it sounded like. It sounded more like a bloody horse or something.

"There," said my unlikely savior, "did you hear that? If I didn't know better I'd say it was relieved now that you put your gun down."

"Marguerite," Malone told her, acting more rational I must admit, "that's ridiculous." 

Marguerite began to walk towards me, slowly and cautiously.

"What are you doing?" Malone asked, pulling out his rifle again, "you can't approach it, it's a Raptor!"

"Well," said Marguerite playfully, "I think it's a friendly Raptor."

Malone ran up to her and grabbed her arm. The two of them began talking quietly to one another. I couldn't make out the words, but not so much because of their whispers, but because of another voice inside my head. I was hungry, and my friends looked like just the thing to quench my thirst for blood, my need for food, my Raptor side's longing for the hunt, the kill. It took everything I had to prevent myself from having an afternoon snack with Malone as the main course and Marguerite for dessert!

After finally settling myself down, and making sure that I wasn't going to eat my friends, I focused my attention back to their conversation. To this day it is hard for me to grasp how a Raptors instincts were able to have such reign over me.

"I'm going over to it!" I heard Marguerite yell.

"Fine," Malone finally conceded, "but I'll be right here with my rifle, ready to shoot it at the first sign of trouble."

"Yes, yes," Marguerite said annoyed. She cautiously approached me once more. I just stood there, trying to be peaceful in the body of this fierce beast. 

She made it. At first, she paused for a moment. Then, she slowly began to move her hand toward the shoulder of my little arm.

I was dying of impatience, "Oh, Marguerite would you hurry it up already?" I wanted to tell her, "it's just me, I'm not going to bite! (Or at least I'll try not to.)" I didn't dare open my mouth though, not having any desire to scare her off, and not forgetting for a moment this time that Malone was standing nearby with his rifle.

She touched my shoulder, and I did everything I could to act as if I liked it. Doing this was much harder under my circumstances. I couldn't think of what would do at first. Then it hit me. Marguerite had become more comfortable with me now, and she began petting the back of my neck. My first impulse was that it was somewhat offensive. The thought of Marguerite petting me, but I had to remember that to her, at least at that moment, that is all I was – an animal. In the end, I wagged my tail to show that I enjoyed Marguerite's presence.

Marguerite smiled and looked back at Malone, "This is incredible!" she told him.

Malone felt better now. He put down his gun and walked toward me. "He's wagging his tail," Malone observed.

"Yes, I think he likes me," she said, then she turned to talk to me saying, "You do like me don't you?" I nodded my head and almost hopped in excitement. Luckily, I remembered that the force to apply a slight hop in my human body would probably put me 5 feet in the air with this Raptor's body.

"But," Malone continued, getting to his point, "Raptor's don't do that."

"Well," said Marguerite, "this Raptor does. He seems drawn to me."

"Like a dog to its owner," Malone thought, "wait a minute, are you saying that this is some sort of domesticated Raptor?"

"I don't think I can explain it," Marguerite said, "leave that to Challenger. Ah, just think how nice it would be to have a Raptor for a pet."

Malone responded with a little more logic. I guess I ought to be thankful that Marguerite has that unique quality about her to embrace a dinosaur with such love. "You're not serious? Keep it?"

"Why not," offered Marguerite, I was just happy I was able to make some kind of connection with her before they left me out in the jungle alone in this body. "We'll take it up to the treehouse and all decide together."

"Are you crazy?" Malone exclaimed, "we can't bring a Raptor to the treehouse, it'd destroy the place, and possibly eat all of us in the process!"

"Look at him. Does he look like he would attack anyone?" Marguerite told him, hanging by me loyally. Why couldn't she warm up to me this much when I was myself? Marguerite was always a woman of mystery. I think that may be the main attraction I've had towards her. At this point in our nearly two year affiliation, I thought I had figured her out. This embracing of a dinosaur was irrational by any sane man's account. I had to wonder if she saw some part of me through this Raptor's hide. With Marguerite though, there's no telling what motivates her to do such things. Her affection for me as a Raptor may have saved my life, so I wasn't about to complain.

"It does look content, for now," commented Malone on Marguerite's last query, "but still, take him to the treehouse…"

"Oh," said Marguerite cheerfully, "I'm sure he'd love to go," turning to me again, "You want to visit our treehouse don't you?"

I shook my head vigorously. Excited, I ran around them in circles and started gesturing them to follow me, jerking my head the way toward the treehouse. This was my first attempt to get them to realize that I was their friend and not just another Raptor. I didn't think that this action alone would do it, but I knew that in the treehouse I could do plenty of things to hint that I was a sentient being.

"Hold on," said Malone obviously still worried, "what about Roxton?" This changed things for me a little. I thought I should get to the treehouse faster. The longer my body, wherever it was, was out in the jungle, the more the danger of it being eaten was.

Marguerite's response to Malone's concern for my safety did not make me happy. She was standing right next to me, and we were a few feet ahead of Malone on the path. "Don't worry," she told him, "he probably just ran off to go hunt something or chase down some young maiden. We may even find him at the treehouse when we get there."

I growled at her angrily. She jumped back startled, as I snapped at her.

Malone came running forward, "He didn't seem to like that," he said curiously.

I was sick of waiting, I ran down the path toward the treehouse, hoping that Malone and Marguerite would follow. My guess was right; Marguerite didn't want me to get away because she was getting used to the idea of having her pet Raptor around. I was not going to be filling that role any time soon. So, Marguerite had immediately sprinted after me, and Malone grudgingly followed.

I can only imagine the sight at the treehouse before the three of us came back. It was near the end of the day, and Challenger and Veronica had been preparing dinner to serve upon our return. Just another very relaxing setting in the treehouse, as it always was in the plateau's one safe haven.

As we came up in the elevator, I could hear Veronica say, "That must be them." Then we could see her drop an apple on the floor, and pull out her knife. "How did a Raptor in the elevator?"

She was ready to throw the knife through my neck when Marguerite, my little hero, stepped forward again, "Veronica no! This is a Raptor we found in the jungle. He isn't violent and seems to have taken a liking to us."

"And where's Roxton?" Veronica asked.

Her question would go unanswered as Challenger stepped up, "Fascinating," he said mystified, "a calm Raptor. I wonder why? Could it be sick?" He shook his head and focused, "No, we must answer these questions later, where is Roxton?"

"We don't know where he went," Malone explained, and then retold the story of the Raptor attack and the strange light that got me where I was.

I started to growl as soft as I could and move around the room a little. 

Before they went looking for me, I needed to get across to them that part of me was already there. My first idea had been to guide them to my room, but then I eyed one of Malone's journals.

I ran over to it, and crouched down so that I could use my little arms to tap on the cover of it.

"I think," said George, intrigued of course, "he wants your journals Malone."

Next I indicated that I wanted to use the ink. I tried to softly touch it, but clumsily spilled it. Malone did have more.

"You might be right Professor," Malone told Challenger, "I think he wants to write something."

"How is that possible?" Veronica asked the question that I'm sure they were all wondering.

At this point they were all over come with intrigue, and curiosities demanding to be satisfied. They dipped one of my claws into some ink, and presented me with a piece of paper. I tried to write on it, but had some unexpected difficulties.

"His claw is too sharp," Malone pointed out, "it's ripping the paper."

"I'll go outside and look for a flat slab of rock," Veronica offered. A few minutes later she returned. "Here," she said, "this is perfect." 

They set a thin slab of rock in front of me. It was almost completely flat, and was a dusty white color. I wrote out a message. The handwriting was awful, but I got a message across anyway. I wrote, "It's me. Where's my body?"

Challenger deciphered it, and read it out to the group. "What could that mean?"

"Oh my god," Marguerite exclaimed, "that's Roxton!" The others hadn't quite caught it, so she added, "It's a Raptor's body, but Roxton is on the inside!"

"John?" asked Challenger, "is that really you?"

I nodded my head to confirm it. 

"This is incredible!" Malone exclaimed, happy I was there with him.

"Where _is_ the body?" Veronica asked.

"The body… Of course," said George, the old boy finally putting things together, "Malone, in your account you described a Raptor nearby when this flash of light happened. Somehow, I couldn't explain more without having have been there, but somehow, that flash interchanged the two minds. So wherever Roxton's body is, it's being controlled by a Raptor. If I could have seen this for myself, I might be able to better understand how this happened."

"Forget how it happened," Marguerite said, "we have to go find his body!" Now she was concerned about me. Timing was a little off.

"It's almost dark now," Challenger told her, "we'll have to wait until morning. Roxton," he said to me, still not used to the idea of me being a Raptor, of course nor was I, so I guess I couldn't expect him to be, "did you ever see your body at any time after the exchange occurred?"

I shook my head to say tell him that I had not.

"Not a sign?" added in Malone.

I shook my head again.

"I hope the Raptor in Roxton's head has the survival instincts to stay alive long enough for us to find him," Challenger said.

So, we had to wait for morning to find my body, (hopefully alive) and what was bound to be even harder, we had to find a way to put my mind in the right body. I was just happy that my friends knew who I really was. I had help, and for the first time felt okay with my situation. I was still eager to get back to my old self, but I felt good knowing that I wouldn't get shot by one of my own. And having the power and athletic ability of a Raptor was interesting, and as it would turn out, at times, it could be kind of fun as well.

**__**

To Be Continued…


	3. Lifting Fog

The next morning we set out in two teams to look for my body. It's strange to be part of a manhunt that is looking for you. We set out in two teams consisting of Marguerite, Challenger, and myself, as well as Malone paired with Veronica. We had set a point in between the treehouse and the area where I lost my body as the center for a search "that would extend a radius of 3 miles." That's exactly what Challenger said. Our hope was that we wouldn't have to venture out father than that to find my body.

My team was walking down the path, when I saw a wild boar. With my Raptor instincts, I couldn't resist it. I ran up to it, killed it, and started eating the meat off of it. Very fresh, and as I remember, very tasty at the time.

"Roxton!" said Marguerite when she had noticed me go off, "oh, that's disgusting."

"Easy Marguerite," said Challenger, "it's just a natural instinct for the Raptor to eat wild meat."

"Well," said Marguerite, "you go ahead and watch all you want, George, I'll just continue searching."

"Just wait a minute," Challenger pleaded.

It didn't take long for me to pick all the meat off its bones. Then I ran to join my friends on the path.

We walked in silence for a while. We searched for hours. At one point, we found a stream where I could get some water, which was nice because it was hard to drink from a canteen and have my thirst be quenched. Still walking down the path, we weren't having much luck. I let Marguerite get ahead of me. I walked behind her and nudged her back with my head, pushing her forward on the path.

"John," she said, taking the joke as it was, "stop that." I saw Challenger smile, amused at the situation for whatever reason.

A minute or so later I nudged her forward again. "Roxton," she said, as a warning, telling me that she was getting annoyed.

About 30 seconds later, I playfully nudged her forward again. "Roxton," she yelled at me, "would you cut it out!"

I roared at her. She jumped back, naturally fearing my Raptor exterior. 

Challenger laughed, "Marguerite, I think Roxton is having a little fun."

"Fun," said Marguerite flustered, "well, who am I to disrupt Lord Roxton's fun."

_Marguerite_, I thought, _always reacting in ways I'm never ready for_. I was just playing around, and I think Marguerite would have been more entertained if I were my normal self. The Raptor side of me confused her. She didn't know how to treat me because I was a beast with a human on the inside. She couldn't decide whether to treat me like a pet Raptor, or like John Roxton, the man she knew was on the inside somewhere. However, by the next day, she would become more comfortable with the idea of me being in the inside the Raptor's skin.

By the end of the day, we hadn't made any progress, and they were no smoke signals from Malone and Veronica. As the sun went down we had no choice; we had to set up a camp for the night.

We woke up early the next morning. Challenger made sure that the fire was out and decided that it was time for breakfast. Marguerite and Challenger ate some fruit that they had brought with them in their packs. I myself went hunting for some live meat. It was far more appetizing, and better for my Raptor's body, which was after all, strictly a carnivore.

After breakfast, we set out searching again. Within five minutes, Marguerite stopped and picked up a stick.

"Roxton," she said lightly, "wanna play fetch?"

I looked at her, and she must have known that I was not a simple little animal, and that I wouldn't have _any_ interest in running after sticks, chasing my tail, or scratching behind my ears.

"You do?" she said, taking full advantage of my inability to speak, "well," she smiled, "then, here you go." She threw the stick down the path. 

I tried hard to contain my frustration. This is exactly the kind of thing I had come to expect from good old Marguerite. I suppose I could have taken it as a sign that she was getting more comfortable, but there was very little I could do about it now. No witty words to get her upset. All I could have done was to attack her physically, but that would leave her seriously injured. When I was genuinely upset, I wouldn't have dared to roar because it was not always easy to resist the Raptor desire burning in that body's heart of eating live flesh. I saw Challenger look at me, containing a laugh, but I don't think he wanted to upset me further.

Feeling like she had won some sort of victory, Marguerite strutted along, and we began searching once more.

At mid-day, we detected a smoke signal, and figured it must be from Malone and Veronica. We had assumed that they had found my body. We set out to follow the smoke, hoping to get the first step involved in making me back to normal behind us. I remember thinking how far away the smoke was, and how it would probably take us all day to get there.

Of course, Marguerite said it best, "How far _is_ that?" she asked Challenger.

"Oh," he told her, "let's just say it's probably a day's walk if we keep a good pace."

"A day!" she exclaimed. Then she turned to me, "Roxton why did you have to lose your stupid body?"

When we finally reached Malone and Veronica, we were met by a sight we hadn't expected to see. They didn't have my body. We found Malone and Veronica sitting under a tree in an area that was pretty open with just some grass. Malone was kneeling over Veronica, when he saw us; he came to greet us.

"Bad news," he said, "Veronica broke her leg. We ran into some Pterodactyls and we split up. It followed her, and she killed it with her knife while jumping out of this tree – it was incredible! Except when she hit the ground, that's how she broke the leg."

It was unlike Veronica to be so careless. Actually, from what I had gathered, it's amazing she was able to kill the dinosaur without being attacked by it, but of all people she's the one that we all would expect to be skillful enough to avoid this kind of accident.

"We've got to get her back to the treehouse," Malone continued, "I would have done it myself, but there are a lot of predators in this area. I didn't want to be caught in the open with her injured and…"

"Completely understandable," Challenger said, "it'll be dark soon. Tomorrow we'll have to regroup and get Veronica back to the treehouse."

I brushed up lightly against Marguerite so that she would start thinking of me. "What about finding Roxton's body?" she asked.

"Yes," Challenger agreed, "still a concern. Maybe we could split up. Marguerite and I could take Veronica back to the treehouse, and Malone, you and Roxton could continue the search."

"I'd like to stay with Veronica," said Malone, "make sure she's okay."

"Ned," said Veronica, "I'm fine. It's barely even broken."

"Let me take a look at that," Challenger offered. He went over to examine the injury.

"How bad is it?" Malone asked, his concern was clear, but we all knew he cared for before this happened.

"It looks like Veronica's self diagnosis is fairly accurate," Challenger replied after several minutes, "I'd say it's only a hairline fracture."

"See," said Veronica, "I'm just fine."

"You still need to stay off your feet for a while, give it time to heal," Challenger told her.

We had too many problems all of the sudden. My body was still missing, in one piece we hoped. Veronica was unable to walk or defend herself very well with the broken leg. I began to wonder if time was running out. _A Raptor's mind controlling a human body,_ I had thought to myself, _realistically, how long could it survive?_ Of course, I wouldn't give up hope, not unless I actually saw my body dead.

We set out at sunrise the next day. The speaking members of our team agreed that we would all get Veronica back into the jungle before splitting up. Marguerite and I were to go and continue the search for my missing body, as Malone and Challenger would get the ailing Veronica back to the treehouse. She had convinced everyone, even Malone somehow, that once there she would be okay there alone, so Challenger and Malone were to search for the body more once Veronica had been safely delivered to the treehouse.

At this point, I was really missing being human. The different and fun things about the Raptor were not so exciting anymore, and I really wanted to talk again. My dangerous attributes that came with the body were making me uncomfortable, having to keep pushing urges and temptations aside. I shudder to think what Marguerite would have done in this situation. I was more afraid than I had ever been on this expedition. My mind had begun filling with doubts that I would never find my body alive and well. Irony would play a role in the events that happened next. As soon as my hopes started to dwindle, I would find a little something I had been missing.

I remember it well. We had just reached the jungle and would be splitting up soon. That's when the smell was detected.

"Do you smell that?" asked Marguerite.

"Smells like a dead animal," said Malone.

I was starving. I used my enhanced Raptor senses to find this animal, with every intention of eating anything that was left to produce an odor. When I got to it and nearly dug in to my prize, I found that it was human. Not just any human, it was me. The sight of seeing yourself through someone else's eyes, a Raptor's eyes no less, is one of the strangest things that's ever happened to me. And being stranded on the plateau for two years, I have seen some very peculiar sights. I just looked down at it, again, my vision seemed distorted from what I was used to, but my body looked like it was pretty beat-up. I roared as loud as I could to attract the attention of the others.

At first, they weren't getting the message. "Save your victory cheers Roxton," Marguerite mused.

I kept roaring. Challenger looked at me, "I think he's found something."

He walked over to me and saw it. "Malone!" Challenger called, "I need some help moving this."

They dragged my body out onto the path. "Roxton's body!" exclaimed Marguerite.

"Yes," confirmed Challenger, beginning to thoroughly examine it, "but it seems to be in bad shape. Assuming the Raptor is still in control of it, he's unconscious. If he ever did control Roxton that it is. We never proved that the switch occurred in both of them. The body has several lacerations, and appears to have been attacked by something. How it was able to escape is anybody's guess, but it's not going to be easy keeping it alive."

"What do we do now, Professor?" Malone asked Challenger. 

"There's not much I can do for him here," said Challenger, referring to my body and its condition, "if we could get him back to the treehouse, I could do more to help him there. Using herbs and medicines we have found to help him heal."

"How can the three of us carry Veronica and Roxton's body?" Marguerite asked.

"I can walk," Veronica insisted, "all I need is to put this leg in a splint. Get me a branch or something to use as a brace, and with the splint set, I'll be able to manage."

"Veronica," said Ned, probably worried that Veronica shouldn't be up at all.

"What else are we going to do, Ned?" Veronica said, making a very good point, "this is the only way."

"She's right," said Challenger, "let's begin gathering some branches and sticks. We need thick and straight pieces of wood to make the splint. Look for a sturdy piece about the height of Veronica's waist, she can use that for support. Marguerite, stay here and keep an eye on the injured."

I went out and did what I could to help find wood for Veronica. Finding straight pieces would be difficult, and I was only able to search and gather from the ground. After an hour or so, I spotted a very thick branch that was barely hanging from a tree. It looked the right height, and I could see that it would probably support a great deal of weight. It was low enough to the ground that was able I grab onto it with my teeth and pull it off the tree. I then took it back to the trail. 

With the branch in my mouth, I approached Marguerite, "Good boy," she said to me, patting me on the head, "I'll have to give you a treat when we get back to the treehouse. Of course, there isn't anything there you'd like anyway, so maybe I'll just forget it."

I again felt insulted by her treatment of me like a mindless animal. I roared at her. This caused her to jump back, "Or maybe," she said, "I'll make you a nice romantic dinner for two when you come back to normal. Now give me that branch." Instead of dropping Veronica's cane in her hand, I took a step back, and dropped it at her feet. I ran off, looking for more wood to help set up Veronica's splint. 

Challenger and Malone were able to get the rest of the wood, and by mid-day Veronica's leg was in a splint, and she was able to hobble around, using the branch I found as a cane for support.

"We should get moving as soon as possible," Challenger said, "we'll be forced to keep a slow pace, but I'd like to get back to the treehouse quickly. Roxton's body isn't going to hold up forever in its present condition."

So, we pushed on, Malone and Challenger carried my body, the presence inside of it still unconscious. Marguerite helped Veronica keep her balance, and assisted her in stepping over logs and other obstacles. Being in the Raptor's body, I couldn't do anything myself. Normally, I'd be the first to volunteer in helping the others, but I was limited. It bothered me, but I did my best to remain calm. The rage in the Raptor's blood made it hard to stay calm, hard to resist the lust for ripping meat off a live animal, hard to subdue the energy I had for hunting. Slowly walking around like this, eating scarcely, it was killing me. This was not the way a Raptor was meant to live. 

__

How long will I be able to contain my primal instinct? I thought. 

When I had awoke earlier that day I had an urge, an urge to run off wildly into the jungle. Run around, and be free. Killing animals frequently, and living a wild, savage existence – forgetting everything in my mind that made me a civilized person. I resisted, but as we slowly made our way back to the treehouse, I feared that I would be unable to stop myself from answering the call of the wild. It felt like the Raptor was taking control – shutting out my mind, and if it did, I knew that I might have even attacked my friends. All I thought was that Challenger had better get my body healed up and get my mind back in it fast, before I lost control… of everything.

**__**

To Be Continued…


	4. Attack of the Apemen

To this day I still don't know if I had what it took to just walk along, and resist those primal urges. Luckily for me, I didn't have to find out. Still, the thought of what I contemplated doing was haunting.

Veronica stopped walking. "What's wrong," said Marguerite, uncharacteristically concerned for her, "is your leg bothering you?"

"Shh," said Veronica, "I hear something." I heard it too, but I wasn't exactly in a position to talk about it much.

We all paused; straining our ears to try and assess what was going on, who was there this time. Then, it jumped out, and we could all gape at what we didn't like seeing_. Not exactly a friendly face_, I thought to myself.

An Apeman was standing there, looking as brutal as ever, but the worst part was, there was more of them, hiding in the shrubbery along the jungle trail – lots more. It's as if they were attacking together, as one organized unit – just like the Raptors from before! I have pieced that together since then, but at the time; I had other things on my mind.

_Finally_, I thought, _time to get a little excitement in, a little hunting_! The lust for blood I had would be satisfied as I began savagely attacking the Apemen. I dug into most of them myself. Meanwhile, Challenger and Malone had put down my body. Malone, Challenger, and Marguerite defended themselves with their weapons, and also gave me some cover while I wildly thrusted myself into the hoard of attacking beasts. Even Veronica managed to help out, by successfully throwing a knife into one of them that was approaching me from my blind side.

Looking back on it, I am able to notice more similarities between this attack and the attack with the Raptors that got me into this situation in the first place. The Apemen kept flooding onto the path, there were just too many of them for us to overpower. Even I was getting full and even rather tired of all of this running and jumping and attacking.

What happens next is definitely a parallel between the Apemen attack and the Raptor attack. One of the Apemen had jumped on me, and I was trying to shake it off of me. All the others were busy fighting off other attackers. I saw the face of another Apeman in a bush, or so I thought it was an Apeman. I had spun around trying to knock the clinging Apeman off my back, and noticed that my body was gone. I looked at the figure in the bush, and, despite the differences in the Raptor's vision, I saw a face that that I knew, it was my face. I realized that the Raptor controlling my body had woken up and wondered off, but it seemed to not realize the switch like I had. I believe it had every intention of attacking me, or someone else out there. Everybody was swarmed, the Apeman on my back was practically glued there, and my body was just starting to leap out and attack me. Suddenly, I saw a blinding flash of light. Again, very familiar. 

I found myself in the bushes, the Apemen gone, and the Raptor somewhere else. I felt like I needed to sleep, relax. I knew that first I would have to alert my friends, tell them that the switch was reversed. I couldn't do it though, I couldn't stay on my feet, and I fell forward onto the trail.

Noticing, Marguerite came running towards me, "It's me," I told her, "back… back where I… belong."

That was the last thing I remember. I lost consciousness right there. My body ached all over, and it was as if every part of me was sore. I could assess some broken ribs, two or three, a concussion, and badly broken left wrist. My last thought as I faded away was only a name, _Marguerite_! I wanted to see Marguerite.

The next memory I have is of waking up. I was in the treehouse. My head felt better, my wrist was better too. I also noticed that my ribs had been bandaged. I was lying on my back and I looked up to see that someone was leaning over me, it was Marguerite.

I smiled, "So, when will I get that romantic…" I paused for a brief moment as my ribs surged with pain as I tried to readjust, "… dinner for two you promised?"

"Roxton," Marguerite said, very excited, "George," she called, "Roxton's awake."

Challenger was on his way, but I just looked back up at Marguerite, "Well?" I asked her. 

She didn't say a word, and shortly, Challenger came in. He was pleased with my regaining consciousness, and became confident that I was going to pull through. Apparently, it had looked grim for awhile. I learned that my assessment of my injuries was correct, and I had been unconscious for nearly two and a half days.

"So," asked Challenger, "how do you feel?"

I looked up at Marguerite who was there too, "the dinner, you promised."

"I think Roxton is rapidly turning back to normal," she told him. Challenger walked out. "Dinner?" Marguerite said to me, "I don't remember any dinner. You must be delirious or something."

"Marguerite," I said, and she could see pain ripple across my face again. It was my ribs once more.

"They're your dreams, Roxton," Marguerite told me.

I didn't want to speak again. I just gave her a look – a look that said a lot. Looks and impulses have always characterized our relationship, more than words that we couldn't make work. But we both knew we had a relationship – a special one. And that fact seemed to be confirmed at that moment – for both of us.

"Oh, all right," Marguerite said, "we'll do it when you're up and about like normal, okay? You need to rest now."

I nodded to communicate acceptance.

Within a few days, both Veronica and I were feeling much better and moving about the treehouse.

I saw Malone writing in his journal, "Still telling the story of our last adventure?"

"I've been attending to Veronica a lot," Malone admitted, "but I don't know how to write this exactly. The strange attacks, first by the Raptors, then by the Apemen. How could any of this happen? There's no reasonable explanation!"

"Well," Challenger told Malone, "there are some things even science can't explain. These types of things occur in abundance on the plateau. I can't tell you why the attacks occurred in the way that they did, and I can't explain the flash of light, not it's origin or how it was responsible for interchanging the thoughts of the Raptor and Roxton."

This was a strange thing to hear Challenger say. It wasn't often that he simply stated that he didn't know something. I suppose there are things out there that are beyond our realm of understanding, and even a brilliant mind like Challenger's is unable to give us a reasonable explanation as to how and why certain things occur. Part of it, might be this plateau. There are many things about the plateau that we still need to learn, things that we just might need to know in order to leave – in order, to go home.

"Maybe," Veronica said, "some stories, some adventures, aren't meant to be told, only remembered."

"Maybe," Ned agreed, he closed his journal and that was that.

This was an even bigger surprise. Malone was obsessed with capturing every detail about this lost world. Yet, in this case, he looked for an answer, and he found only more questions. Questions he knew couldn't be answered. He was able to accept, somehow, that this is one mystery that may never be solved.


End file.
